Gershon Cohen, project director of the Campaign to Safeguard America’s Waters, speaks with Earthjustice staffer Jessica Knoblauch. For more than a decade, Cohen has been working to clean up the cruise ship industry, which routinely dumps wastewater pollution into national and international waterways. In June, Earthjustice, on behalf of conservation groups like Cohen’s, successfully defended an Alaskan ballot initiative that called for cruise ships to stop discharging waste into Alaska’s pristine waters.

Cruise ships dump nearly 148 million gallons of wastewater, laced with partially treated sewage, heavy metals and toxic chemicals, into Alaska’s pristine waters each year. Following Earthjustice litigation, an Alaska judge has said the cruise ship industry—and the agency that regulates it—needs to clean up their act.

Alaska’s coastal waterways have been tainted by discharges of polluted water from cruise ships. Earthjustice sued and the state, after extended litigation, agreed to reconsider and strengthen its standards.